Science is lacking on welfare with free range eggs

Poultry experts say developing a draft definition of free range eggs will be difficult, because of a lack of science on stocking densities.

A new scientific committee is being established, with leading poultry academics to advise the Government and industry on the latest animal welfare science.

The chair of the Council for Sustainable Egg Farming, Greg Mills says there has been very little research into stocking density.

"We have organisations even like the RSPCA suggesting that the needs of the animal can be met inside a barn.

"That's at stocking densities of 70,000 to 90,000 per hectare equivalent."

He says allowing access to outside free range, brings with it other welfare issues that can kill hens.

"In free range, they're outside, so they're exposed to temperature extremes, so issues like shade, predators, we see some more diseases being prevalent because they can be retained in the soil between batches whereas in the inside system we can sterilise that down.

"We see nutrition issues because if they're eating stuff outside they may be diluting their nutrition."

The outline for RSPCA barn laid stocking density in the shed says there must be no more than:

• 9 birds per square metre of the usable area for sheds that incorporate a raised floor area, or• 7 birds per square metre of the usable area for indoor deep-litter systems where there is no raised floor area.

But in the outdoor free range standard, the RSPCA requires a much lower stocking density, between 1500 and 2500 birds per hectare.